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A review by leesuh
Witch World by Christopher Pike
4.0
I picked up Witch World on whim. I had seen it more than a couple times on my library’s “new” shelf and decided one day to give it a go. I actually didn’t even read the jacket description until I was far enough into the book to already know what was going on. I was hooked on it from the very beginning. It was interesting from page one (good for me; I don’t do well with slow starters) and continued the trend page after page. I read almost the entire first half of the book in one evening.
The story isn’t like anything I’ve read before, but it did feel like it could have been done before. It’s somewhat of the typical alternate world/parallel realm where things are the same as “real life” but different, and people are "special". Nevertheless, I never felt like things were too easy or predictable. In fact, there were many things in Witch world that I didn’t foresee in the slightest. I predicted the future of one character hundreds of pages before anything happened, but the way everything unfolded was a total shocker to me, so I’m totally okay with it. In the whole story there were just a couple plot points I didn’t dig at all. They were necessary, sure, but I feel like they should have been written better. I should have felt more than I did while I was reading the scenes, and that left me thoroughly unsatisfied.
As a whole I thought the characters were pretty so-so. I loved two guys named Russ and Kendor who were, unfortunately, not super apparent in the book. They were there, but they weren't more than support. I would have loved some more of both of them. The main character, Jessie, was all right. I didn’t love her and I didn’t hate her. As a main character she was decent. She was strong and smart (usually) but still had that sense of naivety that made her realistic. She was pretty stubborn too, which was annoying but totally helpful in making her character seem genuine.
There are a few things in the world that I’m still confused about. More importantly though... there are a few events that were sort of explained but not really explained that left me sitting here like "Okay, how does that work again?" I don’t know if it was bad writing or me not paying attention at an earlier point in the book. Perhaps it was a mixture of the two. I don’t want to get in depth with what I’m talking about, but come shine some light on the mechanics of Witch World for me if you can, because I really need some clarity.
In general I really liked this book. It took me just a couple days to read it because I always felt like I was being thrust further and further into the story. There’s going to be a second book, but honestly I don’t feel excited or really anything to read it. I can’t help feeling like I’m done with the story. Sure, I want to know what happens next, but I feel like I might be bored reading the next book. We’ll see. Like I said: sometimes the writing was hot and cold--which is why this book doesn’t get a perfect rating--and with the lackluster ending there was something to be desired, but knowing what I know now I would definitely read this book again. If you’re into paranormal or fantasy I would definitely recommend Witch World.
The story isn’t like anything I’ve read before, but it did feel like it could have been done before. It’s somewhat of the typical alternate world/parallel realm where things are the same as “real life” but different, and people are "special". Nevertheless, I never felt like things were too easy or predictable. In fact, there were many things in Witch world that I didn’t foresee in the slightest. I predicted the future of one character hundreds of pages before anything happened, but the way everything unfolded was a total shocker to me, so I’m totally okay with it. In the whole story there were just a couple plot points I didn’t dig at all. They were necessary, sure, but I feel like they should have been written better. I should have felt more than I did while I was reading the scenes, and that left me thoroughly unsatisfied.
As a whole I thought the characters were pretty so-so. I loved two guys named Russ and Kendor who were, unfortunately, not super apparent in the book. They were there, but they weren't more than support. I would have loved some more of both of them. The main character, Jessie, was all right. I didn’t love her and I didn’t hate her. As a main character she was decent. She was strong and smart (usually) but still had that sense of naivety that made her realistic. She was pretty stubborn too, which was annoying but totally helpful in making her character seem genuine.
There are a few things in the world that I’m still confused about. More importantly though... there are a few events that were sort of explained but not really explained that left me sitting here like "Okay, how does that work again?" I don’t know if it was bad writing or me not paying attention at an earlier point in the book. Perhaps it was a mixture of the two. I don’t want to get in depth with what I’m talking about, but come shine some light on the mechanics of Witch World for me if you can, because I really need some clarity.
In general I really liked this book. It took me just a couple days to read it because I always felt like I was being thrust further and further into the story. There’s going to be a second book, but honestly I don’t feel excited or really anything to read it. I can’t help feeling like I’m done with the story. Sure, I want to know what happens next, but I feel like I might be bored reading the next book. We’ll see. Like I said: sometimes the writing was hot and cold--which is why this book doesn’t get a perfect rating--and with the lackluster ending there was something to be desired, but knowing what I know now I would definitely read this book again. If you’re into paranormal or fantasy I would definitely recommend Witch World.